Early Years
by WritingRowlet
Summary: Tadashi Hamada is the new kid at SanFransokyo Elementary School. He's just lost his parents and now lives with his aunt and three (almost four, Tadashi!) year old little brother. Luckily, four new friends help make this new life a little easier. Read on for kittens, sleep overs, and so much more fluffy goodness!
1. Tadashi's First Day

"Class!" the teacher shouted as she attempted to calm the boisterous group. She clapped her hands and directed their gazes to the front. "Today we have a new student," she said cheerily. The boy by her side stood slightly hunched with his head hanging slightly. His black hair reflected almost silver under the florescent lighting and his lime green Converse were holding the majority of his attention. "Introduce yourself, sweetie," the teacher whispered.

His head shot up and he locked eye randomly with his new classmates before finally saying, "Um…I-I'm Tadashi Hamada…" and hanging his head again.

Sensing the anxious air around the boy, his teacher had him sit. Tadashi's seat was beside a very bubbly girl, Hannah, he'd learned, and stationed in the second row. The teacher, whose name he finally learned was Ms. Alleghany, began writing on the white board about ecosystems. Tadashi internally groaned and pulled out his notebook; he had just learned this two weeks earlier at his old school. So instead of taking a refresher course, he let his mind start to wander. It wandered to his little brother who was with their aunt. He thought about how Hiro wouldn't remember much about their parents in a few years. Or how Hiro would grow up with an aunt as his mommy. He worried for his Aunt Cass, who now had to take care of them. He'd already seen her break down when she thought the boys were asleep and she always looked so tired, after all she had a business to run-

A bell sounded and all the students scrambled out the door. Tadashi snapped back from his mind and shoved the excessively–doodled on notebook in his bag. He looked at the clock and saw he'd wasted two hours; it was lunchtime apparently.

* * *

In the cafeteria, Tadashi scanned for a free seat. The eight-year-old held his lunch box close, mindlessly tracing the doodles his mother would add as well as the Japanese words he barely understood.

"Tadashi!" someone shouted over the other kids. He looked around before his eyes landed on a waving Hannah. He smiled slightly and made his way over, taking the seat she patted. Out of his fog, Tadashi could see Hannah was kind of cute. She had long blonde hair thrown into two separate ponytails and pink overalls that transitioned to a denim skirt at the waist. Her sneakers were sparkly and when she tapped her foot against the plastic seat they lit up.

Two others came over to sit; a tallish boy with really dark skin and a very tiny Asian girl. They took the seats in front of Tadashi and Hannah.

"Hi, guys! This is Tadashi!"

"We know, Honey," the Asian girl said, "he sits in front of me. 'Sabi's on the left." Hannah - Honey? – blushed and nodded.

"Hush, Leiko!" she giggled, "I forgot you and Wasabi were in my class! Sor-_ry_!" Tadashi smiled at her attempt at being sassy.

Leiko instead rolled her dark eyes. "Whatever," she jammed a bite of macaroni in her mouth, which signaled the other two to dig in. So, following her lead, Tadashi got out his lunch as well.

Aunt Cass had packed him a pb&amp;j sandwich, a fruit cup (thankfully with fork), and her attempt at a rice ball. He'd save that for last.

He stuck the straw in his juice and sucked it down along with the sandwich. His mind started to wander again, but he was pulled out by a question.

"So, where are you from?" Wasabi asked.

Tadashi looked up at the other boy and swallowed the slice of pineapple in his mouth. "From north of here…you prob'ly don't know it…" he answered simply.

Wasabi nodded then came the question Tadashi had most dreaded, "Why'd you move here?"

A silent moment past before he even tried to answer, "My parents…th-they-!" he couldn't get it out, "Accident!" he wailed, burying his face in his arms. Every tear he'd held in was falling. Every choked down sob from when Hiro would wake up crying for the mother. Every cry from the funeral, the drops that didn't dare follow a stray for fear of bursting open, it all came out on that wooden table. His shoulders shook violently and his breath spluttered unevenly with each suck-in of oxygen.

And, boy, did it feel _great_.

Hannah-Honey's eyes filled with tears and threatened to spill in sympathy. Leiko and Wasabi were frozen stiff, having never dealt with someone just start crying.

Tadashi calmed down and breathed deeply. He looked at the three faces staring at him and blushed. "S-sorry, guys…" he mumbled.

"You OK?" Leiko asked. Tadashi nodded.

Lunch was mostly quiet for the rest of the time. On their way back to class, Leiko took a pen from Wasabi's backpack and ran ahead writing on the back of her hand.

"Gogo, gimme my pen! You're gonna get ink poisoning!" Wasabi yelled, running to catch her.

"What's with the weird names, Hannah?" Tadashi asked. "Honey? Gogo? Wasabi?"

Honey Lemon giggled, "They're nicknames. Wait 'til recess."

* * *

The class ran out the door to the playground that afternoon. Tadashi hung back to wait for Wasabi with Honey and Gogo. The other boy ran out of the bathroom in a different pair of shorts and old sneakers. He was sort of gathering that Wasabi was a bit of a perfectionist in how things looked- including on his self. The four of them came out to the trees that shaded the metal play equipment. Gogo tapped Tadashi's shoulder to get his attention. They were crawling under a bush. Lovely.

"What are we doing?" he asked. All three others shushed him and Gogo pushed him down to crawl under the bush. When he came out the other side, he was extremely surprised. A basketball court was stationed only a few feet away and soccer goals were beside the court. Off in the distance was a large mansion with three fountains in the backyard.

A boy with a shirt that Tadashi was sure his brother would envy came running down the hill toward the group. "Hey, guuuuuuuuys!" said running boy puffed out while trying to stop himself. He sucked in a huge gulp of air and straightened up, noticing Tadashi. "Who're you?"

"Tadashi-"

"Awesome name! That's cool!"

"Um…"

"You must be new!"

"Yeah, I'm-"

"Awesome!"

OK, this kid wouldn't let him get hardly a word in! "Fred, calm down. What're you so excited about?" Honey asked calmly, putting a hand to Fred's shoulder.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" he apologized, "But I found something a few minutes ago…" he looked over his shoulders and peeked through the tree branches. "C'mon…but be _extra super quiet_,"

The other four looked to each other with concern and confusion, but followed anyway. Fred led them over past one of the fountains and to an old looking shed. He shushed them and motioned for them all to come closer. They all gasped: kittens! On a bed of old leaves was a litter of four kittens who climbed over each other to get to their mother. Two of the kittens had their eyes open and one had only one eye open while the last, the runt, still couldn't see.

However, what he lacked in sight, he made up for in noise. The little cat mewed loudly and sharply while trying to get over his siblings to get to its mother. Tadashi smiled at the kitten. He liked cats more than dogs, unlike all of his old friends. He figured from his new friends' excited faces that now he wasn't alone in his opinion.

"I found them during my break. But don't say anything! Heathcliff don't know about them!" Fred explained, keeping his voice hushed.

"Are you homeschooled?" Tadashi asked, glancing back at the house. Fred nodded and shrugged. If he could have it his way he'd be in the school just so he could be with his friends.

The bell sounded back at the school and all three kids gasped. They apologized to Fred for having not played that day and ran back to the bush and crawled through, jogging to catch up with their class's line. They all giggled in the line, panting and catching their breaths.

"Fred is the one who gave us our nicknames…" Honey explained while they walked to their classroom. "But we aren't supposed to go over there, so don't tell Ms. Alleghany!" Tadashi nodded and promised not to tell.

* * *

"Oh, Tadashi! You're home!" Aunt Cass greeted her nephew as he appeared from the top of the steps. He smiled his greeting and dropped his bag beside the window. "How was your first day?" she asked, hugging him tightly.

Tadashi hugged her back. "It was OK, I guess," he shrugged. "I made some friends I think…"

"Oh, honey, that's great!" Aunt Cass ruffled his hair. "How's your teacher?"

"She's cool I think. Nice," he nodded, not knowing quite what to say.

"Dashi, Dashi, Dashi!" a voice squealed from behind. Tadashi looked over just in time to see his little brother crash into his leg. He smiled and stooped down to hug the child. "Don't ever go to school again! I missed you!" Hiro fussed, stamping his foot on the hardwood floor.

Tadashi chuckled and pecked Hiro's head, "I'll see what I can do. I missed you, too."

**Ayyye, childhood fic! Just what I'm best at! If you guys have suggestions for any future chapters, you can tell me what they are! They may just make into this little...what ever this is going to become!**

**Review and tell me what you think so far!**


	2. Kittens Need Homes

A week had passed since Tadashi had started at San Franskoyo Elementary. Ever since his break down on his first day he'd felt so much better and was able to mention his parents without wanting to cry his eyes out.

His new friends helped. They never mentioned their own parents and tried to listen when Tadashi was having a bad morning. Usually any sadness he would be feeling would fade by the end of their history lesson for one reason. Recess.

Recess meant they got to see Fred and the kittens, who were growing quite rapidly. Tadashi's favorite, the runt, didn't grow quite as fast. His eyes were opened and fur was growing but weight didn't stick very well it seemed. At least compared to the others.

The third Monday's recess was different. When Tadashi and his friends went to Fred's yard, the homeschooled boy looked upset.

"Fred? What's wrong?" Honey Lemon asked when they were all standing.

"The cats…" Fred sniffled, "Heathcliff found them this morning and… and-!"

"What?" Wasabi tried to get the boy to continue.

"He gave them away!" Fred cried. The others gasped and, teary eyed, looked to the house.

"Who did he g-give them to?" Gogo asked.

"H-he went door-to-door…" Fred sniffled. Tadashi matched Fred's crying in fear for the little kitten he'd grown to love. But, of course he should have known the cats wouldn't be permanent.

"M-maybe they went to a nice family?" Honey tried, taking on the task of mother hen-ing the group.

"Famil-_ies ._"

"Why would you separate them?" Gogo cried. "You don't do that!"

Tadashi hadn't seen Gogo cry. Even when she fell off the bleachers in gym class. So seeing her getting this emotional was like a punch in the gut.

"Y-you don't break up a family…" she sniffed, laying her head on Wasabi's arm.

The bell rang, signaling the four children to head back to their class. Slowly, they crawled out and walked back to their lines. Their teacher looked at them with concern, but decided not to question it. It was normal to see Tadashi with a melancholy look, but not the others. It may have been so much as a bug found dying, for all she knew.

* * *

"Dashi!" Little Hiro greeted. He had only recently awoken from his nap if the pull-up over his bottom was any hint.

Tadashi faked a smile, stooping down and hugging his brother. "How're you, Hiro?" he asked after dumping his bag and getting a drink.

"We got a surprise! I'm not 'posed to say what 'til Auntie Cass gets back, though!" Hiro giggled, pleased to be the one with a secret. Tadashi grinned, figuring Hiro was talking about dinner or something.

"Wanna help with my math?" Tadashi asked. He didn't need help, but his brother was developing a love for math that was anything but normal. Also, not having to work through division problems was just fine by him.

Hiro grinned and nodded, running over to the dining table to try and pull himself up in his seat. Tadashi chuckled, taking his homework over to show the three-year-old. After finishing the first side of the worksheet the door downstairs opened.

"Auntie!" Hiro squealed and ran to the top of the steps to help.

"Hey, sweetie," Cass cooed as she sat down a plastic box. "Go get Tadashi," she said to her younger nephew.

"What's this surprise Hiro was talking about when I got home?" Tadashi asked before his baby brother had time to pull him over.

"Well. While you were at school, this man came into the café with a box of kittens. He said their mom was no where to be found so he was giving the kittens new homes." She started.

Tadashi's eyes widened, Heathcliff had gone to the café?! His hopes sky-rocketed as Cass opened the cat carrier and pulled out a little fuzz ball. It was the runt!

He started crying, this time from pure _joy_ that he was OK.

"Dashi?" Hiro took his hand with confusion. Having a kitty wasn't sad!

"We found them at school! I thought they were gonna go to bad places!" Tadashi explained. Cass smiled and passed the kitten to him. He cuddled the kitten close, happy to be able to pet him again.

"Hiro decided we should name him Mochi," Cass stated. Tadashi nodded; any name was better than Runt.

"Dashi, you like Mochi, right?" Hiro asked. Tadashi laughed, nodding. He sat in the floor with Hiro and played with Mochi. The kitten mewed at the brothers and pounced at their toes and fingers, making Hiro squeal and Tadashi yelp, both jumping away.

Aunt Cass stood by the kitchen island, snapping photos of the boys and their cat.

* * *

That next morning, Tadashi came into the classroom with a smile. He jumped onto his seat and sat on the desk, tapping his foot against the plastic seat attached. When all his friends looked at him, concerned as to why he was happy, he decided to share the great news. "My aunt got one of the kittens!" he announced happily.

All three others' faces lit up instantly. Shouts of "Which one! Which one!" made him laugh.

"The teeny tiny one," he answered. Their expressions were full of love, all knowing that the smallest kitten happened to be the absolute cutest. They were also glad to know they could still keep track of one of them.

"Fred'll be so happy!" Honey exclaimed, gripping Gogo's arm in her newfound excitement. Gogo nodded, her smile still sticking to her face.

"Mr. Hamada, your desk has a chair for a reason," Ms. Alleghany teased.

"Yes ma'am," he sunk down on the seat but still turned to face Gogo and Wasabi easier. They all giggled, knowing this secret kitten endeavor had a happy ending.

* * *

"Fred, Fred, Fred!" they all called as they emerged from the school's playground. Fred looked at them, curious about their happy faces. "Guess what!"

"What?"

"Tadashi's aunt got one of the kittens! She got the littlest one!" Honey answered excitedly. The boy's face went from somber to purely ecstatic in a second.

"She did! Awesome! What did you guys even name him? He is a him, right? When did she get him!"

Tadashi snickered, "His name is Mochi, my brother decided before I got home." Fred's grin stretched across his face as far as it could. He nodded in approval at the name, nearly bouncing out of his shoes.

"Did you guys ever find out what happened to the mommy cat?" Wasabi asked.

Fred shook his head, "She never came around and Heathcliff searched as long time for her but she never came. He said she might've been picked up by another family driving 'round…" The others nodded, their smiles slightly dimmed at knowing they'd never find out what happened to the mother cat. "At least the one kitten is happy, right Tadashi!"

He nodded, laughing.

They spent the rest of recess playing soccer. By the time Tadashi and Co. were back in line, they had scrapes and grass stains on their clothes and grins that nearly passed their ears. Wasabi gloated about how his changing clothes finally worked out for him. He stood proudly in his regular clothes, which were stain free, while the others rubbed hard against the green spots (and in Gogo's case, blood spot).

Before the bell to head home sounded, Honey, Gogo, and Wasabi had Tadashi promise to tell Mochi hi for them when he got home. He promised, and made sure as soon as he came home to disturb the cat's nap for hugs and hello's.

**Chapter two and we already are resorting to cats! I don't always update this quickly, in fact I can sometimes go a month without touching a story. SO don't expect a day's wait every time! **

**Review and tell me what you thought! You can suggest things you would like to see, and some of those suggestions might just end up in the story!**


	3. Picture Day

"Ow! Aunt Cass!" Tadashi fussed. He leaned his head down so she could get the hairdryer to the back of his head easier.

"Sorry!" Cass yelped, running the brush up his hair. "Stop fidgeting!" They were trying to get the eight-year-old ready for picture day, which meant his hair had to be fixed. Tadashi pulled away from the brush at little snags that led to big knots being tugged too hard, resulting in the painful experience.

Hiro sat in the bath tub watching and trying not to laugh at the display. Poor Tadashi! "Why're you pulling Dashi's hairs out?" he asked.

"I'm not, sweetie," Cass answered, "I'm drying it. His hair is tangled, though…" She ran the brush as gently as she could past his ear, though still caught it.

"Stop! Stopstopstop!" Tadashi covered his head to protect it, "It's dry enough!" Cass crouched down, gently pulling his arms away from his hair. She fluffed his bangs and rearranged a few stubborn strays before taking the comb to it. Combing was a lot easier, not leaving Tadashi with the desire to yank all his hair out of his head.

"'Kay, you're all done," she announced.

"Mochiiii," Hiro reached down from the tub and tried to pet the kitten, who flinched away from the water dripped on his back.

"No, no, no," Cass picked Mochi up, handing him to Tadashi. "Go get dressed while I finish getting Hiro clean, OK?" The elder brother nodded and took off to his room to change.

He picked out a yellow button-up and his nice jeans. Aunt Cass insisted on better shoes than his Converse, so he had out a pair of brown canvas sneakers he never wore. They felt funny on his feet and made him look like a dork. He left them untied while he made his bed, setting his stuffed animals on the pillow in the correct order since certain ones got along better than others and Blackeye didn't like Mausu-chan at all so they could never be near each other.

Cass and Hiro came upstairs afterwards. Hiro jumped onto his bed and grabbed an action figure from his shelf, plopping down on the floor to have him be sacrificed to the blue bear with the monocle on his right eye. Cass smiled at the toddler and stepped over to Tadashi, who stuck out a foot for her to tie the laces.

"Tadashi, I know you can tie your shoes," she laughed.

"Yeah, but you do it better," he mumbled, shaking the foot at her. She rolled her eyes and tied the shoe, shaking her head.

* * *

In class, everyone was dressed nicely. They all had dress shirts or dresses, nice pants or skirts. Honey Lemon had a yellow sundress, Gogo had dark jeans and a light purple shirt that nearly doubled as a dress. Wasabi had on khaki pants and a light blue button-up pressed crisp under a dark blue vest. Basically he was the epitome of poindexter.

Ms. Alleghany told the class they would have their pictures at 11:00 so the class wouldn't have to worry about staying neat for long. Not a single child stayed still, anxious energy over keeping clean taking over.

By the time the over-com called the class down, they were all jumping over each other, but careful not to scuff their shoes lest their parents tan their behinds. The class went to the library, which Tadashi had not been in yet, and got in line with the ticket that had their name. Tadashi stood behind Gogo. They were close enough to the front to be able to get it over with quickly but far enough back to have the nervous energy build steadily.

And it was really present in Gogo. The small Korean girl was visibly shaking and switching her feet, redoing her arms over and over, never being comfortable with how they were positioned. Tadashi could see Wasabi on the stool coolly smiling while sitting up straight as he could. He made it look so natural. Tadashi looked back down at Gogo and frowned; she looked way too nervous…maybe even scared?

"Gogo, you OK?" Tadashi asked, setting a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm fine, bonehead," she snapped. "Just wanna get this done." She chewed her lips and peeled the skin off. Eew…

"You sure?" Tadashi asked again. He just wanted to help! "Why don't you like pictures?"

"I'm not good at it!" Gogo blushed, looking out the window and puffing her cheeks. She finally settled on an arms position: crossed.

"Everyone's good at pictures, s'not hard…" They scooted forward and the flashes lit up their faces while another kid gave off a toothy grin.

"Not everybody takes good pit'chures," Gogo mumbled.

Tadashi frowned. He had seen Gogo smile, it was pretty! Apparently she didn't believe that was true. An idea popped his head; if she didn't think she was good at taking pictures, he'd just prove she was wrong! They scooted up again, leaving Gogo to go next. Honey flashed a smile and proved her posture was superior to everyone else's. Gogo hunched her shoulder and switched feet again to lean away from the backdrop.

Tadashi put his plan into action. Before the photographer could call next, he tickled her side. Gogo let out a laugh and tried to get a punch back to the boy, but to no success. Tadashi ran his fingers on her belly and hit all the spots he would tickle on Hiro. The little girl was a ball of laughter and was clutching her tummy when she went to the seat. The camera lady grinned at her and helped Gogo onto the seat.

"Alright, smile big!" _Snap!_

Gogo got down and went to check the photo, only to be surprised by how it looked. Her smile was big and though her mouth was opened, revealing several gaps where her teeth hadn't come in yet, it didn't look bad. The slight pink tint on her cheeks made her usually (in her opinion) bleh face look kinda nice. She actually liked her picture!

Not that Tadashi needed to know that. Nope.

She walked away smiling and stood with her class, arms still crossed protectively over her tummy. Tadashi finished his picture and came to stand beside her, a smug grin dancing on his face.

"Sooooo," he drew out, "How'd your picture turn out?"

"Shut up," Gogo lightly punched his stomach, "Don't tickle me again!" Tadashi giggled, not being able to find her threatening in any way.

They took their class photo last and luckily for Gogo, Tadashi had to stand in the back while she sat on the floor with the other super tiny kids. She didn't have to worry about him tickling her again when they were two rows apart!

* * *

On their way back to class, Honey linked arms with Gogo and pulled her along farther away from Wasabi and Tadashi. The blonde girl was smiling and barely containing her giggles as she dragged the other away.

"Honey, stop!" Gogo fussed, tripping over her feet. "What are you doing?!"

"Sorry!" Honey apologized then looked back, making sure they were out of hearing distance. "You like Tadashi, don't you?" she whispered.

"WHAT!" Gogo yelped, her face and ears going as red as possible. "N-no!" she stammered.

"Uh-huuuuuh," Honey teased, playfully pushing on the smaller girl's arm. "Then what's with how you two were being in there? That seemed awful cutesy, couple-y like!"

"Shh!" Gogo tried to collect herself, "Why would I like him, that'd be just weird."

"So you were really mad when he tickled you?"

"No, he just freaked me out!" Wait. Poopy!

"I thought no one was allowed to do that, Leiko," Honey smirked, knowing she'd caught her.

"OK, fine! Just don't say nothin'! Not even to Wasabi!"

"I promise, I promise," Honey giggled, bouncing in her shoes. "But, just so you know, you're not the only one,"

"Who else? You?" Gogo smirked. Honey nodded and gestured to almost every other girl in their class.

"He doesn't even know!" Honey squealed.

* * *

"What d'ya think they're talking about?" Tadashi asked Wasabi, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Wasabi shrugged, "Prob'ly just girl stuff. My mommy and her friends do that a lot. They just go out somewhere and don't tell no one what they talked 'bout."

Tadashi nodded, not quite understanding. His mom and Aunt Cass didn't have girl stuff time that he could remember…

"Might be Gogo's crush," Wasabi added, nodding slightly.

"Huh?!" Tadashi freaked. "What crush?"

Wasabi laughed, "I'm not 'posed to say anything. She don't even know I know."

"What crush?!" Tadashi pushed. Wasabi shook his head in refusal, enjoying the torturous situation he'd just put his buddy into.

"Why you wanna know so bad?"

"Cause I don't know!" Tadashi answered. Truth was he'd never had a crush as far as he could think of, so any experiences he could learn from might teach him to know if he had one. Gogo was a great friend, surely she'd be able to tell him what it was like to have a crush! "Please, Wasabi!"

"Boys, hush," Ms. Alleghany said from behind them, herding her class into the classroom. When they took their seats, Tadashi looked back at Wasabi expectantly only to be met with a zip-lips motions.

Honey and Gogo looked at them in confusion, deciding to drop it and face forward for class.

**Wow could that have been even less climactic? Sorry about that...Also, no! This will not turn into a TomaDashi thing or whatever their pairing name is I can't remember. I don't even ship that, but I thought every girl in the class having a crush on Tadashi would be cute. And I love Gogo so this chapter kind of highlighted her a bit more.**

**Review and let me know what you guys thought! Leave suggestions if you have any!**

**Oh, and DisneyandWildKrattfangirl, I liked your idea a lot! Family Day might be in the very near future!**


	4. Pumpkin Farm

"Everyone remember, whoever you sit with will be your buddy today!" Ms. Alleghany repeated for probably the eighth time that morning. It was mid-October now and the class was going to go a pumpkin farm for a field trip. Tadashi plopped down in a seat, pulling his bag onto his lap. Wasabi sat beside him and Honey and Gogo were in front of them. Honey flipped around and smiled hugely at the two, excitement boiling over on her face.

Tadashi smiled, "So we all staying together?" he asked. The other three nodded and they all began discussing the activities available to them. There would be hay rides, a corn maze, pumpkin painting, and pumpkin chunkin'. The group decided to save the maze for last, seeing as it would take the longest.

The bus lurched forward once headcount was taken, sending Honey and Gogo down on their bottoms.

* * *

Once they arrived, everyone was set out on their own. The only rule Ms. Alleghany gave was Don't Wander Off Alone. Tadashi and the others ran off toward Pumpkin Chunkin' at the top of the hill. "Me first! Me first!" Gogo yelled, pushing past the others.

The man at the top smiled at the four of them as they caught their breath. "Who's going first?" he teased, watching Gogo's nose wrinkle in offense. "I take you are, little lady?"

"Yeah!" she yelped, taking the pie pumpkin he offered and grabbing the plastic bucket. Gogo dropped her pumpkin in and started pulling back against the elastic. Soon her bottom was touching the ground and her short legs were spread out. Her face screwed in concentration as she pulled it down just a little farther until _WHOOSH!_ The rope she was hanging onto flew from her grip and launched the gourd far into the field, smashing against a faraway tree.

"Great shot!" the man praised. Gogo beamed, crossing her arms proudly and trying to pretend she didn't flop onto the grass when the bucket took off. "Who's next?"

One by one they all shot their own pumpkins off. Tadashi's was the only one to come close to Gogo's, landing just feet away from the tree she hit.

"Great job you guys! I don't think I've seen kids get them that far before." All four of them glowed with pride as they walked away, teasing each other about their poses before releasing the pumpkins.

Next they went to the painting station. This wasn't as fun to them, though Honey did manage to get more paint on her light-up shoes than on her pumpkin and Gogo got more paint on Wasabi than on hers. Wasabi made precise strokes on his to create a family of scarecrows while Tadashi put a simple silly face with its tongue out on his.

They rode the hay ride next with some of their other classmates. Halfway through a scary man dressed as a scarecrow jumped onto the back of the wagon and brought a chainsaw close to some of them, laughing maniacally. Kids threw handfuls of hay at him, though this only made him laugh harder, howling at the sky before jumping down. They all giggled, though were fearful of what may be next. Wasabi spent the rest of the ride glancing over his shoulder and waiting for the next scare. Once they were off, he calmed down a bit. Just not quite enough to keep his friends from worrying.

"Wasabi, you OK?" Honey asked, putting a hand on Wasabi's shoulder.

He jumped. He looked to Honey sighed, calming instantly, "I'm fine, Honey Lemon…just the man kinda scared me a little…"

"Do you wanna take a break?" Tadashi asked. Wasabi nodded so the group went to sit at some picnic tables. "I'll get us some pop…" Tadashi offered, jogging off to the soda cooler. He came back with some Cokes and Sunkists and the four of them took a ten minute break.

They all got up and headed toward the corn maze, giggling and pushing each other around 'til they reached the entrance. "Ready?" Gogo asked rhetorically, running ahead of them down a path.

"Hey!" the others yelled, racing toward her.

"Nu-uh! It's corn!" she laughed. They all giggled and ran through the paths trying to figure out where they were. What seemed like an hour passed and they were completely lost.

"Haven't we already been this way?" Tadashi asked, looking behind himself and in front to try and get a grip of where they were.

"I can't tell!" Honey whined. She yanked off her shoe and shook out the pebbles in them, using Gogo for support.

"We're loooost," Gogo drew out, shifting feet so she and Honey wouldn't topple over.

"Lost? We can't be lost!" Wasabi wailed. "Maybe if we go back the way we came…?"

"That led to a dead end, though…" Tadashi mumbled, jamming his hands in his jean pockets. Dark clouds loomed overhead, threatening to weep on them. "We needta get out soon, though, 'ts gonna storm…"

Wind whipped by and whistled in their ears, "Wh-what was that?" Wasabi questioned. All their faces were overtaken by fear, not realizing what the noise was. The wind carried the sound of the chainsaw to them, making Wasabi scream. "We gotta go!" He yelled, running in any direction. The others ran too, not wanting to be left for a crazy chainsaw scarecrow to kill them.

* * *

"Oh, everyone on the bus, it's going to storm!" Ms. Alleghany fussed, urging everyone on. She did her head count, realizing four were missing. Her face went pale; didn't they go in the maze? Oh no! They must've gotten lost! "I'll be right back!"

Down at the exit to the maze, she called in, "Tadashi, Hannah, Leiko, Anthony!" From inside she could hear screams and feet racing around. "Come toward my voice, kids!" Within seconds four children slammed into her crying and wailing at the top of their lungs. "Shhh, it's alright," she soothed, smoothing the tops of their heads individually. Wasabi stretched up in a signal to be lifted, obviously the most harshly affected. Ms. Alleghany picked him up and held Honey's hand while Tadashi clung to her skirt and Gogo hugged Tadashi close.

They got on the bus and were taken home. Tadashi climbed up the steps with his pumpkin in hand. Cass smiled to her nephew when he came in, greeting him cheerily.

"So how was the farm?" she asked.

"Scary…we got lost…" Tadashi answered. " 'Nd we got chased by a invis'ble chainsaw man. He was gonna kill us!" he was on the verge of tears again, so instead handed his pumpkin over for her to see.

"Well that's pretty, sweetie…" Cass admired the gourd before setting it down and crouching to Tadashi's eyelevel. "You're face looks wind burnt, that's not fun…" her thumb brushed over his red cheeks and the boy flinched away, "Let's put something on that and get you into bed, supper'll be a little late anyway…"

"Thanks, Aunt Cass…"

"TADASHI YOU'RE HOME!"

"Hiro, not now, Tadashi's tired. You can take a nap with him if you want?"

"Nu-uh!" Hiro wailed in disgust, running upstairs and jumping onto Tadashi's bed anyway. The two brothers curled up for a nap, only waking up when Cass called them down for pizza.

**I'M SO SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN SO LONG! I got a little busy and kind of forgot to do anything with this, so I apologize! I know it's a little early for Halloween themed stories but let's be real it's never too early for Halloween anything.**

**Review and tell me what you thought! Leave suggestions for future chapters in your reviews if you want!**


	5. Halloween Sleepover

The brisk wind of October whisked past the upstairs bedroom of the Hamada Brothers. Their Aunt Cass was putting batteries in orange flashlights and the light-up Trick or Treat bags. Hiro sat on his bed breathing heavily through his Iron Man mask and tugging at the legs of his very red costume. Tadashi was busy fiddling with his scrubs and adjusting his doctor's coat. Cass thought they looked positively adorable, though she was slightly concerned about Hiro's heavy breathing…

"Hiro, sweetie, you might want to take that mask off," Cass suggested, laying down the flashlights and tilting the mask up from her nephew's face.

"But! I'mma super hero!" the three-year-old whined. "I gotta have my mask!"

"You can, you can! But maybe take breaks, OK? We don't want our super hero passing out, right?" Cass tried. This seemed to appease the child, who hopped down from his bed and joined his brother at the stairs. They hopped down them and ran to the couch to wait for Tadashi's friends who promised to go trick-or-treating with them.

The doorbell rang and Tadashi jumped up to answer it, breaking out in a huge grin at seeing all his friends. "Hey, guys!" he giggled, nearly shaking his stethoscope off his shoulders. Gogo had on a biker costume; the fake leather jacket looking cool on her shoulders and the bike helmet smooshing her coal black bangs in her line of vision. Honey Lemon was wearing a Rapunzel dress, holding a small frying pan in her hand and a plush chameleon on her shoulder. Wasabi was wearing a Leonardo ninja turtle costume while Fred wore dinosaur costume. "You guys look great!" Tadashi commented.

Honey giggled, stepping into the hallway. The others followed suit as Aunt Cass and Hiro came down the stairs.

"Oh, aren't you all adorable!" Cass exclaimed. "All of you get together, I want a picture of this!" She herded them together and grabbed her camera, snapping photo after photo. Tadashi blushed at the display and attempted to hide his face behind his bangs, but to no avail. Hiro looked up at his brother and giggled, stretching to poke the older's cheek.

"Embarrassed Dashi!" Hiro laughed.

"Hush, Hiro!" Tadashi squeaked. Honey and Gogo giggled, enjoying seeing the boy's slight discomfort.

"You must Hiro?" Wasabi asked the youngest, relieving Tadashi of his humiliation.

The little boy nodded, grinning widely and showing off his one tooth gap. "Well, I guess if you six wanna get any candy before the end of the night, you better get going!" Aunt Cass announced. She thrust the flashlights and bags in her nephews' hands, shooing them out the door. "Tadashi, be sure to watch your brother! Hold his hand and make sure he doesn't wander off!"

"Auntie!" Hiro whined back at her as Tadashi took his free hand. The other four held back laughter at the little boy as they walked along the sidewalk. Fred put a swish to his hips to ensure his dino-tail bobbed to his steps.

* * *

After about an hour and a half, the group had hit every apartment in the area. They were all yanking along bags of sweets and gift cards. Hiro and Fred had taken up a recent double-whine. They would groan and cry about the tightness of their legs and drag behind the others, saying that any farther might remove their legs from their torsos. By the time they were rounding the corner to the Café Tadashi was dragging Hiro by the wrist and carrying the little boy's bag of candy. Wasabi was pushing Fred farther and farther to make sure the boy wouldn't get left behind.

They came into the home and trudged up the stairs to the living room, leaving their bags by the steps.

"Aunt Cass! We're back!" Tadashi yelled. Hiro and Fred crawled onto the couch together, wailing out about the pain in their calves. Cass came in and offered drinks to the kids, passing out sodas to each of them (save for Hiro, who received an apple juice but he doesn't need to know that).

They all sat around after with pizza, wiggling their sock-clad toes around and sipping their drinks. With their aunt gone, though, Tadashi was able to pick whatever he wanted to watch on TV. He checked to make sure she was invested in her show in her room before pulling up the recordings to find Coraline.

"What's this, Tadashi?" Honey asked.

"It's 'bout a girl with an imaginary world with scary people…t's 'posed to be really good apparently…" he explained.

"I've heard of this!" Fred yelped. "My mommy won't let me watch it, though…"

"Well you're mommy won't know," Tadashi snickered, "It can't be that bad!"

* * *

"OK, kids! I think it's bedtime!" Cass called down the hallway. "Time to blow up the air mattresses and hit the…is everything alright?"

"A-aunt Cass!" Hiro cried, jumping up and slamming into her leg.

"Whoa, what happened? What did you all watch?" she asked in concern, picking up the little crying boy.

"W-we watched Coraline…a-and didn't watch it a-all 'cause it was scaryyy," Tadashi explained, attempting to be the brave one of the group.

"Coraline? Tadashi! I told you that movie was not good!" Cass fussed. "It's not a nice movie, do you understand that?"

"Y-yes…" Tadashi mumbled. He stood up and hugged her, burying his face in her side and refusing to let go. The others soon surrounded her, tear-stained faces begging for help.

After a moment, she sighed and looked to her room. "If it would make you kids feel better, you can stay in my room with me tonight…"

"Thank you!" they all cried collectively, running to her room and jumping to land on the bed.

"After you brush your teeth!" Cass yelled to them, readjusting Hiro on her hip. He dipped his head onto her collar and jammed a thumb in his mouth, not wanting to leave her side.

* * *

That next morning, Cass woke up with Tadashi's foot on her neck and Wasabi and Gogo claiming a leg each with Hiro on her left arm and Fred curled up on Tadashi. She smiled at first, able to see the sweetness of the situation finally.

But then, there was a warm spot…

"WHO PEED?" She bolted up, losing Fred to the floor and nearly dropping Hiro. Tadashi flipped, landing with his toes on his hair. He started to cry, and thus a lovely morning after Halloween ensued.

**I promise I am done with Halloween now...maybe...**

**Yes, yes I am done. Any ideas, you guys? Don't forget to leave any suggestions! We'll be getting to some inventing soon, I promise!**

**Review and tell me what you thought!**


	6. Mistletoe Mishap

The 3rd grade class at SanFransokyo Elementary was busy with decorations. Tinsel and strands of lights covered the floor with students running around covering the room with festive pieces. Tadashi and Honey were covering the door with _Frozen_-themed wrapping paper and planning out where to place the bows to make the door look pretty symmetrical yet not too planned. Wasabi and Gogo were threading popcorn and cookies onto string for garland to put on the outdoor tree. Gogo was mumbling under her breath about her boredom and would peak over at Honey and Tadashi ever few minutes before turning slightly red and huffing back at Wasabi. Wasabi would smirk at the tiny girl before being caught.

By the eighth time, she finally snapped at him, "What're you laughin' at!"

"N-nothing!" Wasabi stuttered. "I-I wasn't doing anyth-!"

"OK, kids!" Ms. Alleghany started. "It's time to put up the mistletoe!" Their teacher took the green plant in her hand and stood by the door before turning to her class. Tadashi and Honey move out of the way back into the room and watched her put it up. "Now, can someone tell me the tradition surrounding mistletoe?"

"If two people are standing un'er it they ha'lfta kiss, right?" a girl answered.

"That's right!" Ms. Alleghany exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "Now, of course, if any of you get caught under it together, only on cheeks! And only if you both want to, don't force someone to kiss you, that's mean!" The students agreed to her terms and turned to talk and coo to each other and tease them. Many girls would sneak glances at Tadashi, practically swooning at him before one of their friends would snap them out of it.

After lunch, the class was running back to class to work on their letters to Santa Claus. The four best friends were all walking side-by-side. Honey went in front, talking nonstop about everything she was putting on her list. The others were barely paying attention, though that didn't seem to faze her in the slightest. Wasabi fell to the behind, keeping his pace on each square tile so as not to step on the blue ones, only on the white ones.

That left Gogo and Tadashi smooshed in the middle. Tadashi swung his lunchbox by his side and Gogo walked with her arms crossed. They came up to the doorway of their class, Honey had already taken her seat by this time and was scribbling quickly. Wasabi had snuck past and was sitting in his seat when it happened.

A whistle signaled it. The two looked up and Gogo blushed brightly. Tadashi, ever the oblivious, looked back at her and grinned, "You want me to?" he asked her, gesturing to her cheek. Lost for words, the little girl shrank slightly in on herself and nodded possibly the smallest nod ever nodded in nodding history. Tadashi quickly pecked her cheek, adding a side-hug to the affection. That sort of sealed it for Gogo. Without another thought, she was on her toes and planting a kiss on Tadashi's cheek, catching him by surprise. She quickly scurried back to her seat and buried her face in her arms.

Tadashi put a hand up to his face, blushing a bit at the whistling around him. He was not expecting _that_.

* * *

At recess, the two avoided each other like the plague. Gogo stuck by Honey's side while the boys were throwing out 'reindeer food' to prep Fred's lawn. The girls plucked grass from the ground and pulled it apart while watching them make fools of themselves. Well, until seed rained on them. Gogo made it up to her feet, "You dummies! Don't throw that stuff on us!" she barked, throwing down the grass blades in her fist in favor of running after them while the three ran away in fear.

"Gogo, it's OK!" Honey yelped, getting up and trying to catch up with them. It started snowing just as Fred and Tadashi bumped into a tree. Wasabi, ever the smart one, had offered an apology to Gogo and gave her the bag of food with the promise that he wouldn't throw anymore. The other two weren't exactly on that page. Gogo rammed into them and pinned the two to the ground. Her breath came out in a fog around her face and the two boys squirmed under her.

"Leiko!" Honey fussed, pulling the Korean girl up kicking. "You need to calm down!"

"No!" Gogo yelled, still kicking the air.

"We're sorry, Gogo!" Fred apologized. "It won't happen again!"

"Yeah, I think there's plen'y out now, 'nd it's snowing now, anyway!" Tadashi added. "The reindeer'll have a snack for Christmas, we're done!"

Gogo calmed down some, slipping down to a sitting position. Tadashi sat up and scooted to her, only causing the girl to scoot behind Honey.

The bell rang and she was off like a bullet. As they were walking back, Tadashi asked Honey what was the matter with Gogo.

"I'm not supposed to tell you…" Honey answered quietly as they ducked under the trees.

"Pleeeeaaaase, Honey! She's mad or something and I wanna make her not mad anymore! Pleeeeeeaaaaaase!"

"OK, OK, but don't tell her I said…" with a promise, she continued, "Gogo has a crush on you…"

He froze for a minute, not sure what to say to that. He blushed, going wide-eyed at what that meant. "O-oh!"

* * *

Back inside the classroom, everyone was packing up their bags to go home. Tadashi spun around to face Gogo, who kept her head down. "Gogo? 'M sorry for kissing you earlier…"

"It's fine." She stood quickly to grab her bookbag.

"No it's not," Tadashi stood and followed her, "I really am. I wouldn't have if you woulda said no…I didn't know you like me…"

She froze. "No I don't!"

"But…Honey said?"

"Hannah!" Gogo yelped. Honey spun around and mouthed 'sorry' to her, looking genuinely upset at having told on her best friend. Gogo sighed, "It's fine Tadashi, really…"

"You sure?"

She nodded.

"Then why're you avoiding me?"

"Cause I don't wanna talk about it!" she snapped. "Please, just stop…"

He froze, but agreed to not say another word about it. Ms. Alleghany turned on the TV and put on the Grinch for the rest of class. They all sat on the floor in front crisscross-applesauce. Tadashi looked at Gogo and Honey before scooting closer. His foot accidently dug into Wasabi's bottom. Wasabi jumped, but relaxed when he realized it was only Tadashi. The boy continued to get closer slowly before he brushed knees with the feisty Korean girl. She looked at him and then back to the TV, not scooting.

They stayed that way until the bell rang, all standing up and running out. Well, until Wasabi and Gogo were caught under the mistletoe.

"Nuh-uh! Cooties!" Wasabi squeaked. He ran out the door as fast as he could, Gogo on his heels.

"Don't be a baby, Wasabi!"

"We should prob'ly stop them before somebody gets hurt…" Honey said to Tadashi.

"Yeeeep…" And with that, they were out the door, chasing their friends down.

**YAY CHRISTMAS CHAPTERS~! I need to do more with Fred, I keep forgetting him...don't worry, Fred fans, I shall try harder to remember him! How does a sleepover at his house sound? Yeah?**

**Review and tell me what you thought!**


	7. Christmas Sleepover

"Tadashi! What're you doin'?" Hiro asked his brother who was packing a bookbag with PJs and jeans and a t-shirt. The two-year-old pulled himself up on his brother's bed and peered into the bag curiously.

Tadashi giggled and ruffled Hiro's hair. "I'm packing to stay the night at my friend's house," he explained.

Hiro's eyes got wide, "But! You can't go somewhere else! Who's gonna scare the monsters away? Who's gonna make sure I get macaroni?!" the little boy fussed, tears in the corners of his eyes.

"Aunt Cass'll be here, you'll be OK," Tadashi answered while stuffing a few handmade toys in his bag. "And there are no monsters, Hiro, that's what the spray stuff was for."

"But! –"

"Tadashi, we have to get going if you want to get there before supper!" Cass called up the stairs.

* * *

They pulled into the driveway of Fred's family mansion. The house was decked out completely with Christmas décor, ranging from simple white lights to inflatable Santa. It was grand, covered in snow and glitter, making the Hamada boy grin ear-to-ear. He popped the door to the truck open and ran out the door straight toward the front door. Hiro hopped down and followed his big brother on his tiny legs, leaving Cass to grab the bag.

Fred opened the door, grinning immediately at seeing Tadashi. "Welcome to mi casa!" he greeted. "That's French for front door, if you didn't know."

Tadashi snickered, rolling his eyes at his friend. Hiro looked up at the older boy, "No it's not," he said, twisting from Tadashi's hand. "It's _Spanish_ fo' my house…"

"…Whatever! Close 'nough!" Fred snickered, allowing the Hamada family inside. "Wasabi's in my room 'nd Honey just got here. I think she went potty, though…" Fred explained, practically pulling Tadashi down the hall.

The family exchanged their goodbyes and Cass tugged Hiro off of Tadashi's jeans, carrying the boy out before he could start crying. Tadashi went to sit with Wasabi while Fred ran back to the door to greet Gogo in the same manner he did before.

* * *

After dinner they all changed into their pajamas and crashed in front of the big TV for movie time. They watched the Grinch and Rudolph before Heathcliff came in to tell them it was 9:00 and they might want to start thinking about bedtime. It only took a few protests for him to agree to them staying up later. So they watched Elf and all was happy. They were all starting to get slightly tired, though none wanted to be the first to admit it.

"Is anybody else bored with Christmas stories?" Gogo asked finally.

They all agreed with her, though didn't know what to say. Well, Fred knew. "I know! Let's look up _scary Christmas stories!_"

"But Christmas isn't scary?" Honey commented, not sure where he was going with that thought.

"I dunno, Honey. Even Santa can be scary," Wasabi said to the Latina girl.

"How so?" Tadashi asked.

Wasabi took a deep breath before explaining, deciding to get it all out in one breath, "Well for starters, he knows who is good and who is bad and he watches us and knows when we sleep that's kinda weird and then he also knows where we all live and threatens us to be good kids or else we get black rocks which isn't nice at all and when you sit on his lap in the mall he can be really mean or really nice but sometimes he gets angry if you're scared and then they make you leave just 'cause you got scared. He breaks into your house and leaves stuff but he never gets caught and is it the same man because then he's really old and wrinkly which is creepy and he smells like tobacco. Also the reindeer are bigger than my daddy so they're really big and that's scary that he can control them and make them _fly_." He took in a big breath, relieved to be done with that train of thought.

The others sat frozen for a moment, until Fred piped up, "What if Santa has cameras everywhere!"

"Or! Or what if he flies by every night and looks in everybody's windows to see if they're good kids?" Honey contributed. Suddenly everyone was spitting out ideas, each more ridiculous than the last. They yelled overtop of each other their ideas and jumped around the huge room animatedly explaining what made their thoughts work.

Who knows how long it would have continued if it wasn't for the large thump from somewhere in the house. All five kids froze in the spots, listening closely. Another thump with what sounded like mumbling as well. "SANTA!" they all shouted, running out of the room. They ran all around the bottom floor looking for the fat man in a red suit, thinking it would be easy to spot him.

"We have to find him!" Fred shouted, bouncing in his socks.

"Calm down, Fred," Tadashi snickered. "Santa probably doesn't wanna be found. And it's too early for him, anyway! We gotta be careful or we'll be on the naughty list!" he explained rationally, attempting to calm the boy down.

Fred nodded, "But maybe we should leave something for him just in case he gets hungry watching us all at night?"

The other four agreed to the idea and went to Heathcliff to tell him they needed a plate of cookies and a glass of chocolate milk before they went to bed. The butler set the plate and glass up on the coffee table in Fred's room and helped tuck the five in bed. Tadashi, Wasabi, and Fred shared the larger bed and Gogo and Honey took the smaller bed above them. After Heathcliff left the boys sat up in bed and Gogo and Honey leaned down from their bed with flashlights in hand.

"Are we gonna wait for Santa?" Gogo asked with a smirk. They all nodded in agreement and climbed out of bed. Tadashi stood at the ladder to help Honey and Gogo down from the top, offering a hand to them both so they wouldn't fall. Not that they would've he was just a nice guy. Or at least that's what the girls wanted to believe.

The five of them curled up on the couch together, a lump of children and blankets. None of them had pillows, instead using each other as their pillows. Tadashi and Fred ended up on the bottom of the pile with Wasabi halfway sitting up between them and half laying down on the ottoman. Gogo and Honey laid sprawled across the three boys with their blankets and the comforter thrown up and draped over the five kids.

They watched the plate of cookies intently for a few minutes. That started to get boring so Fred turned the TV back on with the volume on really low so they could barely hear it. He turned down the brightness as well so Santa or Heathcliff wouldn't find out. However, Spongebob only kept their attention for a short amount of time before they were drifting back to sleep again.

"Ugh, this is impossible!" Fred grumbled, smacking the sofa.

"Maybe we should go back to bed now, you guys, it's really late…" Tadashi said. They all looked toward the clock which read 11:00.

"Nuh-uh, he's gotta come soon!" Gogo replied, elbowing Fred in the chest to sit up. "We gotta wait!"

* * *

The five awoke to Heathcliff shaking their shoulders and opening the blinds. All five sat up rubbing their eyes and faces. They all looked at each other and their hearts dropped. They all fell asleep. Quickly they scanned over to the plate and glass which were emptied, crumbs the only evidence that Santa had been there.

"Heathcliff, did you see him?" Fred asked, desperate for answers.

"Yessir, he left small gifts on your bed for you and your friends," the butler responded. The children shot off the couch and over to the bed to find their present.

"Hey! I got a action figure of Captain America!" Fred squealed in happiness.

"Ooh, scientist teddy bear!" Honey yelped.

"Stitch stuffed animal!" Wasabi hugged the plushie close while Gogo pulled out a Black Widow action figure with a shout of 'Yes!' and Tadashi held out his new doctor teddy bear with a smile.

"Hey, there's a note…" Fred picked up the paper and read it allowed as best he could, "Hohoho! It seems you children have been good this year! Keep up the good work and here's a small gift to get you ready for Christmas!"

"Oh, wow! We got a letter from him!" Honey squealed in delight, jumping in place. They spent the rest of the morning playing with their gifts and eating breakfast. Everyone went home by noon, much to their disappointment.

* * *

"Tadashi! You're home!" Hiro squealed, running downstairs in a pullup and his nightshirt. He slammed into Tadashi's leg and latched on. "Don't ever leave me alone again!" he screeched into his brother's leg. Tadashi laughed at him and ruffled his brother's already messy hair. Mochi came over and demanded the older Hamada brother pet him that instant. So they spent a few minutes playing with the kitten together before Tadashi showed Hiro his early present from Santa and then headed for the bath since Cass said he smelt.

**So yay two chapters in two day I am on FIRE! YEAH! **

**Review and tell me what you thought. Leave suggestions if you have some!**


	8. Hiro Takeover

Early January led to cold, cold mornings. Hiro woke up in the morning to frost glittering on the window and Cass shaking his shoulder. The three-year-old was not fond of mornings, not at all. Mornings were quiet without Tadashi and the added cold of winter made them feel funny - empty.

Hiro sat in the warm tub with bubbles following his every move. Cass came in to actually start his cleaning (the worst part of bathtime, honestly). She rubbed the washcloth over Hiro's face and scrubbed his head with the shampoo 'til his head was heavy with suds. By the time he got out, the water had gone cold. He stood wrapped in a fuzzy towel while Cass attempted to pick through his messy hair with a comb.

"Ow! Owwww, Aunt Cassie!" he whined, trying to cover his head, "More gently!"

"I'm sorry, sweetie, I'm done." Cass dried him off and helped him into his _Avengers_ undies and a longsleeve t-shirt. He ran out to the living room without pants, finding them to be completely useless when they had heaters. Hiro slid down beside Mochi, who was by one of the heaters.

"Mooochiiii," he whispered in the kitten's ear. Mochi had been gaining weight since he came to live with the family and he was now a fairly plump 5-month-old. The cat's ears twitched at Hiro's voice and he readjusted how he laid to expose his belly to Hiro. Hiro buried his fingers in Mochi's fur and rubbed his belly until Mochi playful attacked his hand. Hiro jumped back and snatched his hand away in a fit of giggles.

"Hey, little man, you want some breakfast?" Cass asked. Once she received a nod, she asked, "Want some cereal? We have Cap'n Crunch."

"Yeah!"

* * *

After eating Hiro went to his room to work on Tadashi's worksheets. His brother made copies of his math problems for Hiro to try while he was at school. The two would check the problems when he got home and so far Hiro had been making better grades then Tadashi on the problems without instruction.

Division was easier to Hiro than Multiplication, which Tadashi said made no sense. He worked through the 34 problems in no time and laid bored on the floor. He stared out the window for a moment watching the birds. There was never anything to _do_! Wait. What about drawings?

Hiro giggled to himself and toddled over to Tadashi's drafting desk. The A size paper was fairly small but would work. He taped it down and drew in the 1/8" border and looked around for something to sketch. He hopped down to look around and finally found a toy car that looked easy to draw. He drew out the right side view and put in the dashed lines for all the stuff inside, the seats the wheel and radio. OK, the toy didn't have a radio but that was important!

He sat up there drawing the car for well over two hours before Cass came up to check on him. "Hey, wanna come with me to the store?" she asked.

"Yeah! Store, store, store!" Hiro jumped around while Cass pulled out a pair of jeans for him and wrestled the toddler into them. "Store, store, store!" he sang as they went down the stairs. Cass helped him into his bubble coat and boots and forced mittens over of his hands and ear muffs over his head.

"OK, let's get going," Cass laughed while Hiro bounced down the steps.

* * *

At the store, Cass lifted Hiro in the basket of the buggy and took off toward the food aisles. They went down the foreign food aisle first to get noodles and tacos. Then down the pasta and sweets aisle. Hiro leaned over the edge of the buggy to grab a box of Chips Ahoy cookies, grunts and whines slipping past his lips when he was just too short to reach.

"Aunt Cassie, can we _please please please _get those cookies?" Hiro asked, pulling off puppy dog eyes.

"OK, why not…?" she grabbed the box and tossed it in, "Don't eat them yet, Hiro!" she fussed when her nephew went to open the pack. They went down the other aisles and through produce without much activity, then came up to the checkout lane.

Cass started loading groceries onto the conveyor belt while Hiro stared at the candy options. The impulse-buy section was filled with things such as lightup pillows, teeny tiny hoses, trading cards, and wait-

That was cool.

PILLOW PETS!

"Aunt Cassie, lookit, lookit, lookit!" Hiro bounced in the basket, reaching out toward the Stitch one staring at him. "I need iiiiiit!" he explained, attempting to reach with his other hand.

"Hang on, hand on, Hiro!" Cass came around to what he was pointing at, "This is what you want?" he nodded vigorously, "You know if you get this you can't icecream with your lunch, right?" He didn't care, his life depended on getting this pillow.

"I want it!" he answered. Cass snickered and handed him the pillow to throw up on the conveyor belt and ring up. They paid for everything and headed back to the truck. Cass helped Hiro up in his carseat where he sat and cuddled his new stuffed animal close. They got lunch on their way back and like Cass has said, no icecream was bought. They got back home and unloaded all the groceries before diving into their Dairy Queen food.

"Naptime, little man," Cass announced once they were done.

"Noooo!" Hiro screeched, running toward Cass's room and hiding in the closet. She snuck into the room and quickly spotted him but gave into his little game.

"Where, oh where, could my little hero be?" she asked aloud, pretending to be searching around thoroughly. She "checked" under the bed and behind the door. She made sure he didn't somehow get behind her dresser or under her nightstand. Finally she came up to the closet and pushed her clothes aside yelling, "GOTCHA!" Hiro screeched and tried to dart past her, but to no avail. She caught him and lifted the boy upside down to carry him up the steps. He clawed at her legs and tried to pull himself up to get away but didn't succeed before he was tossed onto his bed. Cass unfolded the pillow pet and replaced his normal, boring pillow with it, gently pushing him down to lay down for his nap.

Hiro kicked off his stupid jeans and crawled under the covers and demanded Cass tuck him in. She jammed the comforter under him and pulled it snug up to his chin. Cass pecked his forehead and went downstairs to work on cleaning.

* * *

Tadashi came home about two hours later. Hiro ran downstairs when he heard his big brother's voice.

"Tadashiiiii!" he squealed, slamming into the older's leg and making an octopus of himself around said leg.

"Hey, Hiro," Tadashi giggled and reached down to mess the boy's hair up. "How was your day?"

In lengthy detail, Hiro started blabbing out everything he saw and heard in the store to his brother. He reported how Mochi had been that morning and even complained about his cold chicken strips from Dairy Queen. Tadashi smiled at his brother and listened closely to everything he had to say, nodding and questioning him on certain things.

**Hey, guys! This has been a Hiro take-over chapter! I know many of you have been wanting more Hiro stuff, so this is for all of you! Also, I'm sorry if any of it makes little or no sense, as I am currently sick. It may suck, it may not. I can't tell.**

**Review and tell me what you thought! I may do more of these Hiro chapters in the future!**


	9. Snow Day

"Wait for me, wait for me, Dashi!" Hiro called toward his brother's direction. The little boy toddled behind the group of five older kids trying to catch up. Cass had decided that if the three-year-old was going to play in the snow, he was going to be dressed warmly. So, she stuck him a long sleeve shirt, a short sleeve shirt, a bubble jacket, pajama pants, snow pants, three pairs of socks, and of course mittens. He could hardly move!

Tadashi, on the other hand, had only two shirts and a fleece jacket with his heavy sweatpants. Both boys had their boots on, which were clunky and hard for Hiro to move. Tadashi had a hard enough time, he could only imagine what his little brother was going through.

"Nii-chan!" Hiro whined, finally catching up and grabbing his brother's hand.

Honey Lemon giggled, finding the little boy to be absolutely adorable. "We'll be at the park soon, Hiro," she reassured. Hiro nodded and looked up at his brother with a smile.

At the park the group stopped at the covered picnic tables to figure out what they wanted to do. Fred had dragged several sleds with him all the way to the park so they knew they would go sledding but they could also build a snowman or make snow angels or maybe - !

All thoughts were stopped cold when Gogo smacked Wasabi upside the head with a snowball.

"GOGO!" Wasabi yelped, gathering up snow and throwing it in the girl's direction. Gogo threw one back, missing Wasabi and instead hitting Honey right in the nose. Time froze for a moment while it was decided if waterworks would erupt. Honey reached down, grabbing a chunk of hard snow tossing it in Gogo's direction. She dodged and threw again, smacking Wasabi who threw again along with Honey. Fred jumped in simply because he didn't want to be left out and Tadashi joined soon after when Hiro was hit. Hiro sat on the picnic table, escaping the majority of the flying snow and staying mostly dry.

* * *

They all were at the top of the biggest hill at the park with the sleds. The girls were paired together, Wasabi and Fred, and then Tadashi and Hiro. All of them sat on their sleds and evened up as best as they could.

"Ready?" Tadashi asked, placing his gloved hands in the loose snow. Everyone nodded and readied to push off. "Get set…" They all began leaning forward. "GO!"

They were off. Zipping and zagging past other children and leaning away from the loose dog that wanted to catch them, they were all neck-and-neck 'til they got to flat land. There, Gogo and Honey managed to pull into first place. They jumped up off their sled, gloating and dancing in victory. "We win, we win!" they chanted in their friend's faces.

"It was that stupid dog!" Fred blamed the animal, sulking slightly at having lost to some _girls_. _Ew._

"Sure it was, Freddy," Honey giggled, patting his back. Hiro sneezed from his place on Tadashi, shaking his head before sneezing again.

"You OK, Hiro?" Tadashi asked, turning his brother's head to face him.

"Cold." Hiro answered.

Tadashi stood up and loaded the little boy on his back as best he could, supporting his legs and leaning forward to keep his brother from sliding right off. "We might wanna go back now…" he said. The others nodded and they started making their way back to the café while it started snowing again.

* * *

Once back at the café and upstairs in the living room, Tadashi unloaded his brother and started removing the soaking wet clothes from him, leaving Hiro in only his long sleeve Hulk t-shirt and his pajama bottoms with generic monsters on them. They all stripped out of their snow clothes and Cass came in with hot chocolate for them all.

"Alright, let's warm you guys up a bit, yeah?" She set the cups down and tried to dry Hiro's head off since he soaked the back of his head with a snowball not that Cass needs to know that. Once she was gone, they all drank up the hot chocolate and watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles until they fell asleep.

Cass came back to check on them an hour later only to see that the six of them were fast asleep on the floor, cuddled together with Hiro in the middle. Tadashi surrounded him the best as did Honey. Gogo had her back to the others but a foot on Wasabi who was resting back-to-back with Tadashi. Fred was against Honey, just backwards so his face was resting on her sock clad feet. Cass smiled at the sight, finding her camera and quickly taking a picture of them.

* * *

They all eventually woke up and were decidedly hungry so Cass thought it would be easiest to take them all out to a restaurant for dinner. She loaded the kids into the truck (slight illegal seating arrangements but what the law doesn't know won't kill them) and drove them out to IHOP. Yeah.

Once there and seated, they all got there sodas and sipped constantly at them while looking at the menus. Cass was the only one to not get something with pancakes or waffles. Once their orders came to them, Cass requested they all eat the eggs, bacon, or hashbrowns before scarfing down the sweets.

Then when she wasn't looking, they all drowned their pancakes and waffles in syrup. And that means they _drowned_ them. Her eyes went wide when she saw them and fear took over. They ate in relative silence, the occasional kick had someone yelp but other than that it was peaceful.

Then. They left.

Hiro was the first one to start giggling. Then it was Fred. Soon enough they were all giggling for nothing and when provided a reason to giggle (meaning Fred tripped getting in the truck) they were all laughing so hard they doubled over and Cass couldn't get them in hardly. Back at the café they all ran around with imaginary guns playing war. Mochi wasn't safe from Hiro's hyperness. The tot picked up the cat at his bottom and carried him around with Mochi's face smacking into his knees. Tadashi was mostly a giggling mess, unable to control himself no matter how much he tried. He would finally control his giggles then look at someone and bust out yet again. He got up and chased Gogo around when she smacked him in the back of the head with a remote. Eventually he caught her and tackled the girl to the floor, tickling her. Gogo flipped them, pinning Tadashi to the ground a growling in his face, stepping all over his legs with her bare toes and scratching his calves with her toenails. Honey tackled Gogo off of him and yelled "DOGGY PILE!" so everyone jumped on top of one another, crushing Gogo underneath.

Half an hour passed before they showed any sides of being tired. Hiro's first yawn was music to Cass's ears. After his, they all started yawning. Soon they were fighting hard to stay awake. Cass helped them get the air mattress out and inflated. They climbed on and pulled pillows into a circle, wrapping up in blankets and basically piling all together again.

Within two minutes of hitting the pillows, they were all asleep. Cass sighed in relief, slumping onto the couch and breathing out. _They were ASLEEP!_

She got up and went to her bedroom with Mochi, crashing in bed and getting the sleep she so desperately deserved after protecting those children from themselves.

**Did you know there is actually a difference between hot chocolate and hot cocoa? The difference is hot chocolate is made with milk while hot cocoa is made with water. Learn something new everyday! **

**Review and tell me what you thought! Next chapter I know will be Valentines Day so leave your lovey-dovey ideas as well! I already have one to work with so let's see how crazy we can make it!**


	10. Valentine's Day Fun!

"Class! Next Monday is Valentine's Day!" Ms. Alleghany announced. The third grade class all looked forward to their teacher. "We well be making Valentines for someone we care about today to get in the spirit. You can get pink, red, and white construction paper and glitter up here on the supplies table. Also, I have foam cutouts up here as well if you want to use those, as well." She moved out of the way as a flood of students made their way to the front to grab their supplies.

Back at their desks, Tadashi and Co. were folding their paper hotdog-style to make their cards. "So, who're you guys making your cards for?" Honey asked while cutting heart out with a piece of white paper. Tadashi said his Aunt Cass; Wasabi said his mommy; Gogo only answered with "It's a secret!"

"What about you, Honey?" Tadashi asked, trying to peer at what the girl was writing on her card's inside.

"Honey leaned away and scooted her paper away from the boy. "Secret!" she squealed. Honey Lemon poked Tadashi's cheek with her purple glitter pen. "G'way!" she giggled. Tadashi plunked back into his seat and got back to work carefully placing stickers and hearts on the front of his card.

* * *

"Aunt Caaaass!" Tadashi whined when he saw the class valentines she picked out. The cards were Monster's Inc. themed with lame puns and sayings. "They're so laaame!"

"But they're cute, sweet heart! And I thought you liked Monster's Inc."

He did, but that didn't mean he wanted to give his classmates cards with the movie characters on them! Not when everyone else would have cool things like cars or animals or other normal TV shows! Cass eventually calmed him down about the cards and convinced him they were OK for a third grader to give out. He allowed her to put the bundle of cards in his bag to take to school that morning.

When she went down to start baking things in the café, Tadashi pulled out his handmade card and set it on the counter out of Hiro's reach. Speak of the devil; as Tadashi put on his bookbag, Hiro came downstairs. The two brothers wished each other Happy Valentines Day and hugged tight goodbye. Tadashi ran out the door downstairs to catch his bus to school.

* * *

At school, the entire class was buzzing. Everyone filled the Valentine's baskets for the peers and cooed at how many were in certain ones already. Ms. Alleghany even received a few, which were thrown haphazardly on her desk in the rush to get done quickly. After 10 minutes of tossing cards around, all the Valentine's were passed out and they could return to the seats with their baskets to sort and admire what they got.

The weight of Tadashi's basket initially surprised him. How much candy and stuff was in this thing? He hauled the cardboard container up on his desk with a _thunk!_

Weird. The basket almost overflowed when he realized how many duplicated or even tripled names there was from girls. Several handmade cards accompanied store bought ones and cards with kisses on them followed the handmade ones.

Tadashi looked around at his other classmates only to realize he was the only one with so many Valentines. Ms. Alleghany walked around the room looking at what all the kids were giving each other, helping to make sure they could understand every word on the cards. She smiled at Tadashi when she saw the overwhelming amount of paper on his desk and the shocked look on his face.

"Looks like someone is popular," she teased, patting him on the shoulder. Girls all around the room giggled and whispered to each other, watched for his reaction to their card(s). Once Tadashi reached the bottom, two handmade cards sat neatly side-by-side, obviously placed their before the madness that morning. He pulled them both out and smiled a big, goofy smile. Out of all 60 cards he'd gotten, the two from Gogo and Honey were his favorites. The one from Gogo was mostly a drawing of the two of them with Sully and Mike Wazowski while the one from Honey had a long message about their friendship in extensive detail. Both cards had the normal hearts and glitter of a Valentine, but were still made special with these extra touches.

Girls around the room saw the very different smile as well as how he lingered over the two cards. They all started whispering amongst each other, trying to learn who they were from. Tadashi shifted in his seat, catching both Honey and Gogo watched.

"I love you guys, too!" he shouted, hugging both girls tightly. Wasabi snickered where he sat, enjoying the embarrassment his friends were experiencing. He told them Tadashi would react that way. The other girls all whispered to each other, upset by the fact it wasn't their card that made Tadashi so giddy.

* * *

Tadashi came home that evening with his bag stuffed full of Valentines. He plopped the bag down and poured them all out on the kitchen table.

"Whoa," Aunt Cass breathed out, "There aren't that many kids in your class!"

"Some gave me more," Tadashi explained, "I guess they got confused 'bout who they'd done yet." He shrugged and began sorting them out by person.

"Dashi, what're these for?" Hiro asked, picking up one of the cards and reading it aloud, " 'You're purr-fect to me'." Hiro wrinkled his nose, "Whazzat?"

"They're Valentines cards." Tadashi explained, "You give them to people you like or your friends."

"You have lotsa friends, onii-chan…"

Tadashi laughed, "They're all in my class."

"I'm gonna make one for Mochi!" Hiro shouted loudly, running upstairs and into their shared bedroom.

About this time Tadashi realized Cass had said nothing about his card he made her. He was going to asked her what she thought but when he turned around, she was gone. He sulked, taking his cards from Gogo and Honey up to his room. He laid them on his bookshelf and sat on his bed. When he laid down, a lump was under his neck.

"What the…?" Tadashi pulled his covers away to reveal a teddy bear.

The bear had on jeans and a t-shirt covered in hearts. A note rested on his paw that read 'press his belly!' Tadashi gently pressed down on it and the bear spoke.

"I love you, Tadashi!" it sang out in Cass's voice. Tadashi's eyes widened, so he pressed it again. This time it came out in his mother's voice, "I love you, Tadashi!"

He picked up the bear and brought it to his chest, hugging the bear close. A note fell off the back; it read 'turn around.' Tadashi turned and there stood Cass holding the card he'd made. Tadashi jumped off his bed and ran in to her arms for a hug, never letting go of the bear.

"Oooh, I love you so much, sweetie…" Cass mumbled.

"Love you too, Aunt Cass," he cried into her shoulder. He gripped her sleeves and the paw of his bear, crying happily at what was probably the best present he'd ever gotten on Valentine's Day.

"Hey," Hiro whined, "what 'bout me?"

Cass smiled, enveloping Hiro in the hug. "Both of you, I love both you very much." She pecked the sides of their heads and ruffled their hair. Tadashi wiped his face of the tears that stained his cheeks and smiled at his family. "So, how about we go out for supper, yeah?" Cass suggested.

"Yeah!" Hiro yelped, running down the steps. Cass followed him down, shaking her head at his silliness. Tadashi stood in the middle of the floor hugging his new bear close. His pressed the paw again to hear his mom and aunt say "I love you!" He smiled and looked around, spotting the card Hiro was making for Mochi. He picked it up and saw that his little brother had taped some of Mochi's fur to the paper. Hiro also drew himself and the cat on the inside and scrawled out 'MoCHi' to address the feline. Tadashi shook his head, laughing slightly at his silly brother.

"Dashi, we're leeeeaaaaviiiiing!" Hiro called.

"I'm coming!" Tadashi yelled, "sheesh, someone's pushy…I think you need a nap."

"Nu-uh!" Hiro chased his laughing brother to the truck, giggling and not even mad at the comments made.

**So there's the Valentine's Day chapter! Thanks for those five who gave me suggestions, I try to incorporate all of your ideas as best as I could so if something isn't exactly as you imagined, I'm so sorry!**

**Review and tell me what you thought! Remember to leave suggestions for future chapters!**


	11. Sick Day

In early spring, pollen flew and a new wave of the cold came in. Tadashi, unfortunately, was hit by both.

When he woke up one April Wednesday morning his head was heavy and fuzzy. When he sat up, his head seemed to throb. He sneezed and a cough rattled his entire body. Tadashi groaned, which made him cough again.

"Aunt Caaaaass!" he whined as loudly as he could. Cass came up as quickly as she could. Tadashi looked at her with glazed-over eyes. He sniffled and held his tummy that decided to hurt right then.

"Oh you poor thing…" Cass stooped beside him and kissed his forehead, "Well, you don't have much of a fever. Let's get you in a bath and see how you feel…" She picked him up and carried Tadashi down to the bathroom. Cass sat him on the toilet while she drew the bath.

Tadashi watched her and whipped at his nose, managing to smear the snot across his cheek. The effort exhausted him quickly so he sat slumped over and watched his aunt. Cass undressed Tadashi and put him in the warm water with the Pokémon bath toys that usually managed to cheer him up a little bit. Since he was so tired, Cass bathed him and dried him and dressed him in a Totoro onesie.

Tadashi laid down on the couch while Cass fiddled with the thermometer. She stuck it in his mouth and got up to get allergy medicine ready. Once she came back with a spoonful of the yucky syrup, the thermometer beeped. "Here," she took the device and jammed the medicine in its place before Tadashi could resist. "101.2…You're not going to school today, little man."

"But! We're having a visitor! A real-" he sneezed, "scientist! I _gotta_ go!" Tadashi coughed out the last word. His excitement put strained on him that without a doubt hurt.

"Actually, you _gotta_ get better. Just lay down, you don't want to go to school today, trust me."

Tadashi groaned and threw himself down on the couch cushions. Soon after he fell back asleep, facing the back of the couch while tucking himself into a fetal position.

* * *

"Dashi," Hiro whispered to his brother who was asleep and still home for some reason. "Daaaashiiii," he bounced on his toes and pushed his face closer to Tadashi's. Hiro looked at Mochi, who was curled up against Tadashi's belly asleep. It wasn't fair! The one time Tadashi's home in the mornings and he and Mochi were _sleeping!_

"Hiro, honey, let Tadashi sleep," Cass fussed while fixing breakfast. She had her apron for the café on, meaning she had just been down there fixing things to go in the ovens not too long before. "He doesn't feel well, OK?"

"But that's not faiiiir!" Hiro whined, pulling himself to his seat at the table for breakfast. "Is he 'onna eat?"

Cass looked over at Tadashi, deciding whether or not to wake him up. She decided that after an hour long extra nap, she should at least try. Cass went over and pushed on his shoulders, watching big brown eyes flutter open and stare up at her. "Sweetie, you want some breakfast?"

Tadashi took a minute to take in the question. He yawned and stretched, rubbing his eyes and nodding at her.

" 'Kay, I'll fix you some toast, is that alright?"

"Yeah, that's good…" Tadashi croaked. His voice had gone mostly away it seemed from the strain of his fussing and then not using them at all. He coughed and tried to sit up, leaning heavily on the couch.

"Don't worry, I'll bring it over here…"

"Can I eat with Dashi, Auntie Cass?" Hiro asked with his mouth full of oatmeal.

"I guess, just don't make a mess!" Hiro ran over to one unoccupied side by his brother and hopped up. Mochi curled up between the two, falling right back asleep with his tail and hind legs on Hiro and his front paws on Tadashi. Cass brought the toast over and handed it to Tadashi, who slowly started working his way around the buttered sections. "If you need me, I'm downstairs, OK?" Both boys nodded and continued with their breakfasts. Cass handed Tadashi the remote and went down to work.

Tadashi flicked on the TV and found Steven Universe quickly, sinking down in the couch to watch it. He abandoned the second piece of toast in favor of the glass of ginger ale in the cup holder. The brothers sat in relative silence while Hiro ate. They both had been obsessed with the show so it was easy to keep them quiet.

However, once the episode was over and Hiro was done, he hopped down with a grin on his face. "Play time, Dashi!" he yelped.

"Nu-uh, Hiro…I can't…" Tadashi mumbled, slipping down the side of the couch.

"Why not?"

" 'M sick…"

"Onii-chan…" Hiro whined.

"Hiro, please…" Tadashi rolled over and faced the back of the couch, putting his back to his baby brother. He sniffed and coughed before stretching out and falling back asleep.

So, Hiro got it in his head that if his brother didn't want to play because he was sick, he was going to make sure Tadashi got better fast!

* * *

Tadashi woke up to the sound of clanging pots and cat meowing loudly.

"Sorry!" Hiro apologized, jumping down from the counter to comfort Mochi. The smell of burning food wafted throughout the home and turned Tadashi's stomach upside down.

"Hiro…" Tadashi groaned. "What are you doing?"

Hiro looked up to see his brother sitting up and his face lit up. "I'm makin' you soup! Soup's supposed to make you feel better, right?"

Tadashi nodded and looked around, "…Where's Aunt Cass?"

"Café!"

Smoke alarms went off and within seconds, Cass was upstairs pulling the "soup" off the oven and getting Hiro far away from the kitchen. Tadashi ran to the bathroom and puked in the toilet at the smell and Mochi ran up to their bedroom to hide while Hiro sat on the couch confused at what he did wrong.

* * *

Tadashi woke up for the fifth time with just the weird feeling of someone being too close. He looked down at his legs to see Hiro putting gauze around his legs and ice packs on his back and bottom.

"Hiro, what are you doing?" Tadashi asked, slightly afraid to hear the answer.

"Fixing you!" Hiro answered, patting the gauze where it ended on the roll.

"But I'm sick inside…" Tadashi explained, pulling himself out from under the three-year-old. Hiro mumbled an "oh…" and hopped down to return the first aid kit to the cabinet under the sink.

"Tadashi, it's time for more medicine, baby," Cass said, pouring the syrup onto a spoon. Tadashi whined and hid his face in the couch. "Oh come on, do you wanna get better? Cause you have to take this to get better."

Hiro tugged on Cass's jeans to get her attention. She looked down at him, willing him to speak. "Can I help?" Cass smiled and nodded, whispering in Hiro's ear the plan. Hiro grinned and ran over to his brother.

Hiro started poking at Tadashi's side, which tickled him into a sitting position. Hiro then climbed into Tadashi's lap and pushed his head under Tadashi's chin. Cass came over to the laughing siblings and shoved the spoon into Tadashi's mouth.

Tadashi's laughing seized and he shivered under the taste, recoiling in disgust. Cass pulled the spoon out and Hiro moved out from under Tadashi. Tadashi opened his mouth and let dribble slip out of his mouth. "Yucky…" he coughed.

Cass wiped his mouth and chin and rubbed his head before walking off to wash the spoon and other dishes.

Hiro sat in a pile of smiles, grinning ear-to-ear. He _helped._ He helped to make Tadashi feel better!

"At this rate, honey, you'll be good to go back to school tomorrow," Cass said. Tadashi grinned, finding the energy to be happy for the first time that day.

Hiro's smile dropped. _School? Noooooo!_

**Yay schmoop! I had a little too much fun writing this tbh...**

**I'm thinking next should be science fair, what should Tadashi's project be? Suggestions?**

**Review and let me know what you thought!**


	12. Science Fair

The gymnasium was buzzing loudly with people running from table to table. Kids' sneakers squeaked against the wooden floor when they jumped or spun. Ms. Alleghany was trying to get all of her class' attention amidst the commotion, snapping her fingers and shaking her keys above her head. "Class! Class!" she called. Eventually she got most of their attentions so she continued, "Next week is the science fair which we will all be participating in. You need to create a project using the scientific method and make a report board on the process." Kids began whispering to each other, getting distracted again by all the noise in the room. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to bring them in there…

"Take one of these papers and choose from one of the categories highlighted in your age group!" Ms. Alleghany passed around a stack of papers for them to take and hand back. She continued talking about judging and other past projects, but once the paper was in Tadashi's hands, everything went in one ear and out the other. In the third graders section were categories like Environment, Chemistry, and Electricity. He smiled, his mind running miles and miles a minute. The first thought that popped into his head was a robot, but after asking his teacher, she said that was too hard for a third grader and shot down his idea completely.

After getting home, Tadashi laid in his bed and stared at the paper waiting for an idea to come to him. Hiro ran up to see him and show his big brother how well he was doing with multiplication, but the little boy tripped coming up the steps. "Owwwah!" Hiro cried, holding his knee and sobbing on it.

"Hang on, Hiro," Tadashi jumped down from bed and grabbed the box of band-aids on Hiro's dresser. He wiped the dots of blood off and stuck on a band-aid. "Better?" Hiro nodded, a smile already returning.

"Thanks, Dashi!" Hiro hugged him. He noticed the paper on Tadashi's bed and just had to ask, "Whazzat for?"

Tadashi looked over and saw what Hiro meant, "It's for a science fair. I gotta make something and it's gotta be science-y."

"Make a help robo!" Hiro suggested. "You like help and robos!"

Tadashi giggled and nodded, "I wanna do a robot but my teacher said no robots third graders shouldn't make 'em."

"I can 'nd I'm three!" Hiro fussed, crossing his arms. Tadashi laughed and ruffled his brother's hair.

Tadashi really needed an idea. If he couldn't make a robot…maybe he could make a ロボット

* * *

That next week everyone was setting up for the science fair. All of the third graders were in the center of the gym, their four table were lined with posterboards and covered projects. Tadashi stood beside his project wearing a cheeky grin while bouncing on his toes. He looked under the cover at his project and giggled, knowing he'd found a loophole in what Ms. Alleghany told him. Gogo and Wasabi popped up behind him, scaring the poor boy.

"What's your project, Tadashi?" Wasabi asked, taking a corner of the cover.

"Nonono! It's a surprise!" Tadashi brushed the other boy's hand away. "But, what 'bout you guys?"

Gogo found a way to put a motor she built on her bicycle while Wasabi made a working laser that could cut through four sheets of paper at a time. When Tadashi asked about Honey Lemon's project, an explosion sounded and the smell of marshmallows wafted through the room.

"She's blowin' up gummy bears…" Gogo explained.

"OK, OK! E-everyone set up?" Ms. Alleghany asked, gathering her class in two lines. She looked down the two aisles her students were in and sighed noticing nothing was blowing up, oozing, or sparking. It was a successful set up…

"Aaaand, march!" She spun around and led the class back to their room to continue working on their cursive lesson.

* * *

Judging time came that next day and Tadashi was nervous. The day before was just fine, no consequences seemed possible because no one would see it. Now, he could get in trouble.

"Tadashi, go stand with your project…" Ms. Alleghany whispered, nudging on the small of Tadashi's back. The little boy hunched slightly and crept his way over to his display. Tadashi breathed in deeply and breathed out, taking the cover off. His teacher furrowed her brow, not sure what exactly it was he had set up.

His display board presented information about heat and the psychological reason why hugs were nice. It showed his scientific method process but…what was the little red box for?

The judges came around pausing in front of his setup. "And what have we here?" one judge-lady asked.

Tadashi took in one more big breath, "This is my 抱き合うロボット. It means "hugging robot" in Japanese." They looked slightly puzzled, staring at the little red box and seeing nothing that resembled a robot. Tadashi pressed the button that was on the side and everything lit up. The box opened and a tiny robot inflated, wobbling unsteadily out of its case. Four inches out, the robot stopped and stared straight ahead. "When you say 'I need a hug' he'll give you a hug and start getting warmer. He'll sit in your lap and continue t' get warmer so even if you don't want constant hugs you can still feel like laund'y." Tadashi could feel if his face growing hotter- and not from the hugging robot. The expressionless faces critiquing his work were making him flushed, which was embarrassing.

One of them finally spoke up, "What was your inspiration for this?"

"Um! My brother! He likes hugs 'nd attention but no one can always be with him! I wanted t' help was all…" Tadashi explained, smiling at being able to mention his brother.

The judges all whispered to each other and nodded at Tadashi, walking away toward the next nervous student. Tadashi breathed out and looked up. He locked eyes with his teacher, who smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up. He grinned at that. He wasn't going to get in trouble for his project!

* * *

Later that evening the fair was open to the public and the students could bring in their families to see what they had worked on and to collect their ribbons.

Tadashi walked in with Cass and Hiro (who was just as eager as his brother to get back to the robot). Once they got down the aisle, Hiro dropped Tadashi's fingers and ran to the display.

"Auntie! Lookit, Dashi made this!" Hiro yelped proudly.

She smiled, "It's very nice, Tadashi," she said, watching the boys play with it and seeing the bot go from pure white to a pale red-orange. "Does that mean he's heated up?"

Tadashi nodded, "Feel!" He grabbed her wrist, pulling it toward the hugging robot, who hugged her arm gently. Cass giggled and then noticed a blue ribbon taped to his board.

"Oh, honey! Did you see the ribbon?" she picked it off, "First place!"

"You got first, Dashi!" Hiro bounced excitedly. "That's awesome!"

Tadashi smiled, hugging his robot.

**I'M SO SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED LATELY! I've been busy, school just ended and I've been preparing for a national competition (which is tomorrow for the whole week!) and I really just haven't had the time or mental energy to write!**

**And this chapter feels very rushed, I apologize for that. I just wanted to give you guys something! I'll try to a chapter next week, but I won't have continuous internet all this week or I'd try to get another up Wednesday!**

**If you guys have any summer ideas, let me know! I'll try to get better chapters going now that I don't have school to focus on.**


	13. Summer Slumberparty

"Heads up!" Tadashi laughed, squirting the watergun in his hands at Fred. The other boy dodged, laughing and aiming at Tadashi.

"Gotcha!" Fred yelped when the stream of water collided with Tadashi's bare back. Tadashi fell down, giggling wildly and curling up on the grass.

"No fair!" he laughed, tackling his friend.

Water splashed up from the pool at the two boys. Gogo and Honey giggled at them, seeing as both boys were soaked by their splash. "Would you two quit goofin' around! Heathcliff's gonna make us get out if one of ya gets hurt!" Gogo warned, crossing her arms.

"Ah, you're no fun, Gogo!" Fred giggled, sticking his leg in the pool and thrusting a wave at the Korean girl. The two continued splashing at each other, threatening each other and barely holding back laughter. The 'war' was only interrupted when Honey asked about Wasabi.

"Has anybody seen him? We've been out here for a while…" Honey looked around, her concern having grown when no one knew where he was.

"I'll go look," Tadashi hopped up, shaking the water from his hair like a dog and padding off to the changing room to look for his friend. Inside it was quite dark, since the two-stalled room only had one small window. It was cold compared to the 80-something degree outdoors, and since Tadashi was also still wet, it made it feel even colder. "Wasabi? Ya in here?" Tadashi called as his eyes adjusted to the lighting. He wrung out his red swim trunks to hopefully remove some of the weight from them.

"Hey, Tadashi…" Wasabi greeted, coming out from one of the two stalls.

"Why're you still in here? Honey's been worrying 'bout you," Tadashi asked.

Wasabi pulled on one of his waterwings as his face began to burn. "I don't really know how to swim…I don't wanna be the only one who can't do it…" he confessed.

"Ah, Wasabi…it's OK! Nobody'll care! We can show you how!" Tadashi smiled reassuringly, hoping to win his friend out of the changing room that was starting to kinda freak him out.

"Really? OK…I guess…"

"Yay!" Tadashi fist-bumped the air, "It's fun, don't worry!"

* * *

Everyone was in the water with Wasabi, who was holding onto the pool noodle for dear life. "You've gotta let go, Sabi," Gogo said, grabbing one of the boy's hands. She pulled on his hand and tried to get him off of the pool noodle. Eventually he came off, clinging to Gogo just as he had to the noodle. "Not hold onto t'me! Get off!" she whined.

"C'mon, Wasabi…" Tadashi took one of the boy's hands and Gogo had the other. "Just doggy paddle! Move ya hands around like a puppy!" Wasabi tried, paddling his hands once he let go of his friends. "Now kick your feet, too!" It took him a minute to get going, but soon Wasabi was paddling. He kicked and paddled all the way across the pool, which needless to say wore him out.

"I can swim!" He yelled once he recovered his breath. The others congratulated him and showed how happy they were, hugging him and pulling him around.

For the rest of the morning they all swam around and Wasabi practiced. The others kept it slow to let him keep up until he could get the hang of it. Fred showed him others ways to swim that wouldn't make him as tired as quickly. Soon, though, the waterguns were loaded and an in-water battle was declared. Who knows how long it would've lasted had Heathcliff not called them to lunch.

* * *

The boys all pulled on t-shirts over their bare chests and Gogo and Honey put hooded covers over their one pieces. They snacked on their apple slices and sandwiches. Anytime Fred made a lame joke Gogo hit his face with a pretzel stick. Basically she threw more of her pretzels than she ate.

After they ate, shivering and still dripping with water, it was time to get right back in the water, right?

"No! You have to wait an hour after eating before you swim! Tummy aches!" Wasabi fussed.

"What're we gonna do, then?" Gogo asked, kicking his leg with her watershoe clad foot.

"Ooh! I have some racquets and birdies! We can play bat-mitten!" Fred answered excitedly.

So it was decided, Tadashi would keep score since he was better with that sort of thing apparently. It was girls versus boys, and of course the girls went first.

Gogo smacked the birdie over the net and Fred and Wasabi went to chase it back over the net, making the girls issue to send it back over. It landed on the guys' side before they could hit it.

"Point goes to Honey 'nd Gogo!" Tadashi announced, holding up his pointer finger on his left hand. The girls got smug, however and ended up losing 8-10. Fred gloated, sticking his tongue out at them.

"Put your tongue back in your mouth or I'll cut it off!" Gogo threatened, face reddening.

* * *

By the end of the day, Heathcliff helped them pitch a tent in the yard to sleep in. They all spread out their sleeping bags in a circle around their lantern and bug repelling candle.

"We should tell scary stories!" Fred yelped, flopping down on his sleeping bag. They had all slipped into pajamas and were honestly just ready to go to bed.

"Freddy, it's getting late…" Honey Lemon whined, hitting his shoulder with her forehead. "Can't we just go to bed?"

"I think it's a great idea," Gogo said. "I'll go first." Everyone turned to her, waiting for whatever story she was getting ready to tell.

In her best creepy voice, she started, "Not many people know what happened to the Napps, in fact the police only have a little to go on for what happened. But the neighbors knew…" She looked around at their faces, which were intrigued but still not completely hooked. "From what the neighbors say, they were murdered…by their own shadows…"

"It all happened in one day, one bright, hot day…Mrs. Napps was gardening with her Chihuahua by her side. The dog started barking but she ignored it…she didn't realize that the dog was barking because her shadow was moving away from her. It took control of her body, and made her grab the shovel…then, BAM! She jammed the shovel in her throat!" Everyone gasped, suddenly very afraid of this story, "Her husband came outside to see what the choking noise was about. He hit the sunlight and his shadow started moving, scaring the dog. It attacked him, biting him and making him bleed 'til he ran out…the neighbors never heard them dying but when they came outside and saw them, neither of them had shadows and the dog was smelling them like he had no clue who they were…"

"Lotsa people believe the sun has special powers…if so then sometimes the sun decides certain people just needta die…So be carefully in the sunshine…" Gogo switched off the lantern.

"Goodnight," she smiled in the dark laying down on her purple sleeping bag and pretending to already be asleep.

"You can't just do that!" Wasabi wailed.

It was a very interesting night trying to get to sleep with the thought of sunlight murdering them when they woke up in the morning. But it was so worth it.

**Hey guys I'm back! Summer chapters are here! So if you have any ideas for what they should do, leave it a review!**

**Also, if you're wondering about my competition, sadly I lost. Oh well, there's always next year! **

**Review and tell me what you thought! Always love the feedback!**


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